DATA CORRUPTED
by Drop The Act. Put On A Smile
Summary: When a stallion, who knows nothing of the outside world, has to leave his Stable to find something that will ultimately help everypony, he can succumb to anything. Madness, anger, regret, even death. The wasteland is an unforgiving place, but it gives back. All of the hate, insanity, and murder. It. Gives. Back. Rated M for murder, gore, sex, drug usage, and alcohol consumption.


**"DATA CORRUPTED" **

**is another Fallout: Equestria remake, and my newest fanfic, except mine takes place in the continent of the Bad Lands. Very few towns occupied this place, even fewer cities. They were hit quite badly from the war, and suffered major damages. The only survivors? Were a minimum of 100 Stables planted carefully apart from each other as to not get hit by the Megaspells.**

**Only twelve remain.**

**This is the story of a middle-aged stallion, who grew up in one of those Stables. Who learns to hate, love, kill, and fear everything that enters his set path.**

**I do not own MLP:FIM or FO:E. Both go to their respective owners, I do however, own my characters and the plot.**

"_The sun is bright, the land is green."_

"_This place is wonderful, if'n ya know what I mean."_

The sound echoes throughout the area, coming from a turned over carriage. A small radio emitting music of the pre-war times played aloud.

"_Let love fill the world."_

"_Yeah, come on baby girl."_

"_Let love fi-"_

The sound is cut off suddenly, when a harsh 'BANG' comes from a revolver, handled by a stallion that stood on his back hooves.

"I hate that song… so much." He says stoically, loading another round into it.

The revolver lets off a small glare, as the irradiated light sky gleams off of it, revealing the word 'SCREW' and a single heart to be scratched into its barrel.

The stallion finished loading the round, with difficulty seeing as he is not a unicorn, picks up a device on the ground, and continues walking down the destroyed road, passing still smoking corpses and wreckage alike.

"I'm almost home…" He says quietly, looking over his shoulder at the road behind him.

The area was in ruins, potholes adorning the road, with cracks and fissures splitting through the entire thing. The town he was in, looked in much worse condition. Windows shattered, doors ripped off of their hinges, and the buildings look as if they went through a megaspell.

Which they did.

A single welcome sign to his left, which had originally said 'Welcome to Horsell', is now broken down the middle.

"Welcome to Hell…" He repeats to himself as he reads the sign for the last time.

His small break now over, the stallion begins moving forward again. Leaving the small rotting town behind.

Just like he left all of his memories of the place.

-2 Years Ago-

"Come on!"

"Celestia damn it! Get… in there… Son of a bitch!" I growl, the bolt in the generator's center not participating with me.

I twist at it again, my wrench clenched tightly in my hooves. No avail, the bleeding thing won't budge. I give off another growl, the pressure not letting up. "Oi! Screw! Get over here and give me some penetrating oil!" I shout backwards at my younger apprentice.

"What's dat?!" She shouts back to me, her voice echoing through the small room.

"Grr…" I growl again, twisting at the stuck bolt. "It's the canister with the green label!" I grunt out, my hooves beginning to burn.

I hear shuffling behind me, then silence. I roll my eyes and lift my wrench on my shoulder to turn around. "Screw?! You there?!" I ask, expecting her to shout 'yes sir' back to me.

Nothing.

I give off a sigh and place the wrench down, and begin to walk towards her location. I was about to leave the generator room, when a figure, most likely Screw's jumps in front of me. "Here ya go boss! I founds it in da red box!" She says, her accent from an unknown parent flowing through her voice.

She uses her magical ability to produce a small green labeled canister from her saddle pack, to which she floats over to me. "Thanks. Now, Screw, I need your help. Come with me." I say, turning back to the area I left.

"A'right." She shrugs and follows me back to the loose bolt.

I stop and pick up my wrench again, and turn back to her. "Alright, see this bolt sticking out of that center piece? Every time I'm about to give it a good turn, I want you to apply that." I say to her, tossing her the canister again. She gives me a nod and I turn once more to the machine.

I give off a grunt as I lift the wrench up and place it back to the bolt. I was about to tell her to spray some of it, but she got to me first. She sprays some of the material on to the bolt, and I give it a twist.

Nothing.

"Alright… let's try that again." I say, waiting for her to apply another spurt.

"Yeah."

-Timeskip-

"Ok…" I mutter, giving my brow a wipe with a dirty dish towel. I turn to Short Screw, the young mare who joined up in Stable-Tec Maintenance with me about a month or two ago. She's a fine lass, not too smart though.

Her grey fur, matted in sweat as she gave me a joyous look. "We gots it boss!" She says with a toothy grin, enough to invoke one from me as well.

I give her a pat on the head, in which she pouts to, and give an affirmative grunt. I really hate it when the generator breaks down, especially since I have to go through the whole thing just to look for the problem. Luckily, it's usually a small problem, like loose bolts and what-not. The grey mare finally leans in to my hoof, giving me a feel of her sweat covered mane.

She giggles at me, which was slightly irritating, but I chose to roll my eyes and go back to wiping my hooves with the towel.

"Hey boss. I was wonderin' if'n you wanted to… ya know. Go out sometimes?" She asks suddenly, her gentle tone surprising me slightly.

"Er… w-what?" I stutter out, a hint of a blush growing on my face.

"Yous and me. Come on, I promise it'd be fun!" She asks again, her cyan eyes beginning to water.

I grow silent, contemplating this as I continue to wipe my hooves clean of grime. "Screw, I'm seven years older than you. I don't think that's alright with a lot of ponies." I finally say, turning my head back to the hopeful mare.

The mare lets out a slight 'oh' and her voice dies entirely. Way to make a stallion feel like shit, right? Well, it worked.

With a blush adorning my face, and an eyebrow raised, I tilt her head up with my hoof and look her directly in the eyes. "I'm not saying no, but if ya really want to. I can take ya to the Cafeteria sometime and we can talk about stuff, sorta like a date I suppose." I say calmly, pulling the smaller mare into a hug.

She gladly accepts this, and puts her hooves behind my back and returns the gesture.

"Come on, we have to get back to the Overmare. Tell her the back up-" I begin to say, when a loud alarm sounds throughout the Stable.

'Beeoow!'

'Beeoow!'

"What's going on?!" I shout, releasing from the embrace. A voice sounds from the intercom, turning both of our heads towards it.

_"All Stable 67 Maintenance workers, please report to Purifier Room P-13. This is NOT a drill."_ Closure says over the intercom, her voice coming out raspy and panicked.

I lift up my Pip-Buck, quickly turn to the map settings, and plant a waypoint to P-13. "Waypoint set, ready to go Screw?" I ask, turning back to the confused mare.

"What's ya think's goin' on?" She asks me, taking a quick glance at her Pip-Buck.

"No idea, but whatever it is, to sound an alarm? It must be pretty bad. Let's go." I say sternly, turning towards the door next to the intercom.

I stop by the communication device and press the sending button. "Closure? It's Data Pad, we're on our way. Any idea what's going on?" I ask, releasing my hoof from the intercom.

_"I don't know! The Overmare just went bat-shit on us! She locked herself in P-13, we're trying to get through the door now. Get over here!"_ She responds quickly, anxiety clear in her voice.

I press the button one last time and give a fast 'aye' before leaving through the door, followed by Screw.

The two of us passed by multiple ponies, each with confusion written on their faces, we were too.

Why would the Overmare lock herself in the Purifier room? There's nothing in there but the purifier itself, it's not like she...

Oh no...

"Screw! We have to get there as soon as possible, let's go!" I say, as I turn my calm walk into a dead sprint.

"Why's dat boss?!" She shouts over her own running.

"I didn't think she'd actually do it! We have to go!" I shout back at her, taking a quick turn around a corner.

Whoever built these Stables, really need to put everything related to Repair and Maintenance closer together.

I shove random ponies out of my way, apologizing quickly, but still sprinting. Screw, behind me does the same. "What's she actually do?!" She shouts again from behind, nearing my side.

I give her a quick glance before turning straight again. "She's planning on shutting down the purifier, she said we 'need to experience our home. Our home outside.' I didn't believe she'd actually do it though." I say, focusing on the path ahead of me.

"Dat's insane! We's can't leave da Stable!" Screw replies, a catch in her breath here and there.

"I know! The radiation out there would most likely kill us!" I say back to her, taking another turn, and stop at the sight of several other Maintenance workers standing outside of a busted control panel. The one that opens P-13's door.

Screw stops besides me, giving off loud breathes as she does so. We both trot up to the small group, Closure standing close to both Wireframe and Easy Fix.

The tan unicorn mare sees me and motions me towards her. "DP, glad you're here. Think you can take a look at that terminal?" Closure asks me, which I give her a short nod and trot towards it.

I give it a thorough look, noting down the missing wires and back panel. "Fix? Grab me some electrical wiring, Wireframe, can you grab that extra panel in my room?" I say, not even looking at the two stallions behind me.

I hear affirmatives from the two, and the sound of hooves clopping against metal growing further away until nothing.

Upon further inspection of the terminal, I notice an oddly placed chip, the kind you use to store information in.

I reach through the cut wiring, and pull the chip out of it's place. I look at it for a second or two before hearing the sound of a single pony trotting towards me.

"Here." Fix says simply, dropping the wires from his magical grip. The orange stallion blinking a bit in confusion as he sees me place the chip in my pocket.

"Thanks." I say, picking the wiring and placing them in their rightful places, replacing them with the torn ones.

"If you're here... then Wireframe shouldn't be too far behind." Closure says from behind me, obviously concerned for our Overmare.

"Nope." The big red stallion says, walking slowly to us. Screw jumps a little at the deep voice that came from the stallion.

He tosses me the back panel, and I easily slide it into place.

With a click, the terminal comes to life with a whir.

"Fuck... she locked us out. Hold on, this'll take me a little longer than I thought. Closure? Think you can go to an intercom and try to distract her?" I say, a little peeved at the 'locked out' part. It's like the Cafeteria when it's closed down. You want in so much when you're hungry, yet you're only allowed in at certain times of the day.

"Sure thing." She says, rushing off in a random direction. I would tell Screw to follow her, but I'm a little distracted by this long list of words and symbols.

Speaking of Screw... she's been silent the entire time. Looking away from the computer, I notice Screw was still there, her attention solely on me. A little creepy, but I have no time to care. I turn back to the green terminal, hoping that my next password attempt will work.

Suddenly, a voice pops up from the other side of the door. Closure's. The tan mare actually did it. Good for her, you'd think the Overmare would be smart enough to shut down the intercom in that room. Oh well, this will just be a moment.

_"Priority, High Priority, please. Just open the door, an-" _Closure's voice says, but was soon interrupted by another's.

"Stable-Tec gave us the option to leave the Stables! I chose to do so!" Priority's voice screams back. "And the only way to get everypony to leave, is to destroy the purifier! That way! That way, we have to leave! Our water will be impure! We'll have to leave!" I hear her add madly, her voice cracking at every edge in her words.

I paid it no mind though, I had a 'priority' to do.

Priority... no way... Nopony is _dumb_ enough to have their own name as their pas-

_"Password: Priority, accepted. Granting door access now."_ The terminal's automated voice says to me.

I give a deadpanned expression at the machine, before shaking my head and walking into the dark room.

"Screw, come with me." I say to the grey mare, whom was looking on with a disturbed look on her face. Her ears flattened downwards.

"A'right." She says, albeit a bit nervously. "Yous payin' for dinner though." She adds, in which I roll my eyes to.

I motion for both Fix and Wireframe to stay there, just incase Priority tries to leave. An 'alright' and 'eyup' sounded from both of them.

I turn on my Pip-Buck's light function, the low eerie green emanating a small distance visible area ahead of me. "Like one of those terrible horror movies." I mutter to myself.

A flash of electricity forms ahead of me, outlining a pony with something in its magical hold. "Priority?" I ask, pointing my light at the silhouette. It shines on the mare, proving it to be her.

That 'something'? Was the Stable-Tec's Auto Leveled Leeching Irrigation Out-and-out Neutralizer. In other words? The S.T.A.L.L.I.O.N.

Well... a destroyed version of it at least.

I look at the mare, whom I had respected for years, before a flash of light appeared.

Shit! She was gone?!

"Where'd she go?!" I shout out, looking at my darkened surroundings. Screw looks around as well, nothing and nopony.

I growl dangerously, before releasing a frustrated grunt. I walk up to the S.T.A.L.L.I.O.N. to pick it up and examine it carefully.

"Fuck! There's nothing we can do about it... Screw, go get Closure and the others. Tell 'em the purifier's broken." I say slowly, and at the sound of her name, Screw gives a scared nod.

_"No need, I heard everything from here."_ Closure's voice sounds from the intercom to our left.

We were engulfed by a flash of light, and we're back in the hall with the others. "We could have just walked you know. It's only thirteen feet in the room?" I say, turning towards Closure, the tan mare giving off an embarrassed look. "Er... yeah. Anyway, what are we going to do? Without the purifier, she's right, we don't have much of a choice. We're going to have to le-" I cut her off.

"No. You're not. I'll just go to another Stable, and ask if can have the schematics for a replacement." I say a little quickly, nervous about thought of going outside.

"Not widout me, you're not." Screw said from beside me, casting me a nervous glance as well.

"You're too young, and besides, you'll have to get permission from your mom." I say to her.

"Ehem. I didn't _even_ give _you_ permission to leave, Data." Closure says, her eyes focused on me.

"Closure, I'm _your_ boss. So you can't do anything about it." I say surely, looking quickly at everypony's expressions.

Her downcast expression, meant that probably was what she didn't want to hear.

-Timeskip-

Remember that chip from earlier? Well, it contained some files. None of which seemed to make any sense, they were all passcodes of sorts. I tried them all in the ex-Overmare's chamber's terminal. Nothing. Anyhow, they have significance. I know it. I just don't know when I'll ever need them, which hopefully, I won't.

Right now though, I'm standing directly at Stable 67's large gear-shaped door. It's opened, and ready for me to pass by. Ponies of ages and genders standing quite a bit from me, seeing as how they aren't used to the outside world. Hell. Neither am I.

I heard the scuffling of hooves, but chose to ignore it. If Screw wanted to come, with or without her mother's permission, why not. It'll be good to have some company on the way. Right?

Besides.

At least we won't be having that crappy Cafeteria food for our date.

But, that's for later. Now? I have to go through this... what ever this is, and find another Stable. Hopefully, they have another S.T.A.L.L.I.O.N. or at least the schematics to making one.

I take a hoof-step forward, landing on the ground outside. Take a deep breath, and start walking forward, Screw following silently behind me.

A loud alarm sounds, but I expected this one, it's the same sound the door made when it opened.

I give a look behind me, the sad faces of Closure, Fix, and Maneframe staring back as the large door seals itself once more. Screw does the same.

I turn back around, a large... cave? Of sorts ahead of me, and I continue walking forward. Dust scraping against my hooves, and the hushed breathing of Screw directly behind me.

My name is Data Pad... and this? Is the story of how my life went to Hell.


End file.
